27 August 2011

Virgin Mary Jumperskirt Completed!

Hello all!

I've finally completed my Virgin Mary JSK! I was very excited about it for a long time, but because of school initially earlier in the year, and the commission I needed to complete (my last post), I had to put it on hold for months. I had the fabric all cut out and all the materials for it since about February!

This is the only thing I'd been able to complete for myself this summer, to my great disappointment...

I really wanted to sew much more, but life got in the way. I do hope, even though I always hope this, that I can manage to make one more garment next month. There's also a cosplay that I want to complete by October's New York Anime Festival (Ciel from Kuroshitsuji, well my rendition, not an exact cosplay)

Anyway I thought I'd get this post up, a little bit of happiness to quell the worry of the hurricane that's taking aim at the east coast. My family and I are staying indoors and hoping for the very best :)

I hadn't taken any real progress photos worth looking at, so I'll skip those this time and get straight to the finished dress!

(I'm sorry for the light and photo quality in the photos, as there wasn't much natural light today with the storm and all. Plus, the dress is black and a little difficult to photograph, haha.)

The printed fabric is the "Virgin of Guadalupe" cotton print from Alexander Henry. It's widely available on fabric websites and ebay. I bought my yardage on ebay, 2 precut yards for a mere $10 including the shipping! It's regular price runs around $8-$10 per yard. The bodice is made of black cotton velveteen. It's shirred in the front with corset lacing, and in the back as well without corset lacing, which makes it very comfortable to wear. It also zips at the side.

I managed to finish this dress in a little over a week after I started it, which makes it the fastest lolita garment I managed to make so far. I hope I can keep that pace! I didn't run into any serious snags besides some issues with the lining that are only visible from the inside and don't effect the fit of the dress at all.

The Front view: it's about 26" from the waist in length. I find I prefer longer length JSKs these days.

The Side view

The Back view: I used a soft grosgrain ribbon for the waist ties which are detachable.

Closeup of the bodice: You can better see here the ruffle detail on the princess line, as well as the lace detail. I used venice lace shaped like little flowers.

The corset lacing. I used a looped trim to set the lacing ribbon. As said before, the center front is fully shirred.

You can see it a bit better here.

The back shirring, and the waist ties.

Closeup of the waist ties.

And the little gold flower buttons I found that fasten to the side seams of the dress. I made loops on the ribbon ties - a great alternative to button holes.

The glorious print. My favorite detail is the cherubs and the golden crown. I sadly covered up part of the crowns at te bottom with the crocheted beading lace (can you tell I'm obsessed with beading lace? I use it on everything, I think I need to break from it over the next few projects!)

Obligatory image with crucifix necklace.

Now for a few coordinates, nothing too elaborate. This dress is so busy that I feel everything else coordinated with it should be kept minimal.

It looks rather interesting this way. Very gothic, yet still classical in styling.

I also paired it with an ivory blouse for an even more classic look. I think it looks nice both ways.

With a brown fur, I'm not so sure if I like it since there isn't brown int he print really...

Overall, I am extremely pleased with this dress. It's certainly dramatic and eye catching and I'm sure to turn a lot of heads, but I think it's beautiful and I can't wait to wear it. I know some people aren't really fond of religious prints and motifs in lolita, but I really appreciate them, both for their aesthetic beauty and spirituality. Religious art is one of my absolute favorite kinds, and I'm so happy that I happened upon this fabric. Next I hope to find a Byzantine art printed fabric, and if I don't find one I think I may go about having my own printed one day.

This fabric also comes in this tea color, which I also really want perhaps to make a piece to sell. I'd really like to make a corset waist skirt, also velveteen, or a babydoll version of this JSK (as I don't like making the same thing twice, everything I make has small differences that make them all one of a kind pieces). I want to do this print with a red velveteen bodice, and possibly also a green one if I can.

So there we have my most anticipated piece! I'm uncertain for now what my next project will be. I have an unfinished black bolero in one of my sewing drawers, 6 different printed cotton fabrics in another drawer, and a whole ton of black cotton that was meant for the "Old School Gothic OP" that I'd been also meaning to start. I think I'll make it a jumper skirt instead, possibly. As of right now I have no idea what I plan to sew next, I'll just have to see as I go along! I'll update when I can, not always with full completed garments, but at least with accessories, crafts, and other sewing related finds.

For future, I plan on doing a tutorial or two and sewing video logs as well!

If you have any questions on anything I did here, feel free to ask away!